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Protect patients, not insurance companies

The pending "Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017" is tragically misnamed. It protects negligence and abuse in the health care system and strips from individuals and families the ability to seek jury trials for harm and wrongful death.

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OPINION

Protect patients, not insurance companies

Non-economic damages cover losses that are hard to put a dollar amount on such as suffering, loss of a limb, pain, and loss of companionship. In addition, medical malpractice awards may include monetary damages to cover medical costs and loss of future wages. (Dreamstime/TNS)(Photo: Dreamstime/TNS, TNS)

The pending "Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017" is tragically misnamed. It protects negligence and abuse in the health care system and strips from individuals and families the ability to seek jury trials for harm and wrongful death.

Every year preventable medical errors claim 440,000 lives in the U.S. Preventable errors. And incidents of abuse and neglect in nursing homes across America are rising as the number of Americans aged 65 and older grows to 1 in 5 by 2030.

Jury trials allow individuals to hold entities, such as negligent hospitals, abusive nursing homes, and insurance companies, accountable when they cause death or harm. Juries are our community voice and award damages to deter negligent behavior.

If this bill becomes law, it will limit jury awards for noneconomic damage to less than $250,000 for every case, regardless of the circumstances. This provision ties the jury’s hands in the most severe cases of abuse and neglect and leaves affected families with no real means to hold accountable those responsible.

Some argue frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits cause good people to forego careers in medicine; push good doctors to spend on unnecessary tests to practice defensive medicine; and fuel the high costs of American health care which in 2015 topped $3.2 trillion. The arguments are baseless. The evidence is irrefutable that accountability improves health care.

The reason for medical malpractice lawsuits is medical malpractice.

R. Sadler Bailey(Photo: Sadler Bailey)

Where nursing home negligence and abuse pervade, profit pressures are almost always the cause. Too often administrators forego background checks so they can make a cheap or quick hire or staff inappropriately and leave residents vulnerable to neglect that leads to dehydration, bedsores, and, in extreme cases, starvation.

Imagine the pain families feel when they realize their loved one has died from dehydration or discover a parent has been assaulted because a poorly run business prioritized profits over people? It is something we see all too often. It is crushing.

Yet when administrators put profits ahead of people, a jury trial, as enshrined in the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provides a way to fight back. The "Protecting Access to Care Act" will take that protection away.

Advocates of this bill claim we are in a health care crisis. Indeed we are. But it’s not one you hear about. According to the Journal of Patient Safety, preventable medical errors kill 440,000 patients every single year. That is the equivalent of 2.9 jumbo jets crashing and killing everyone aboard every day.

The preventable nature of these deaths makes them more tragic. Sometimes staffing decisions contribute to medication mix-ups and dangerous charting errors. At other times, folks disregard safety protocols meant to prevent surgical mistakes.

If 2.9 jumbo jets crashed daily, aircraft would be grounded until someone figured out how to keep them flying and people from dying. We cannot close our health care system. But we can maintain our system of accountability through trial by jury.

With patients dying daily of preventable causes and vulnerable nursing home residents risking abuse and neglect, Congress should fight for more accountability. Say no to the “Protecting Access to Care Act.” We deserve better than this. And we must stand together and demand it now, before Congress takes away our only avenue to fight back — the jury trial.

R. Sadler Bailey is founder of Bailey & Greer and past president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association.